Victory Shallow For Haitian Still Detained

Despite Winning Asylum, He Is Behind Bars In Miami During The Appeals Process.

January 3, 2004|By Tanya Weinberg, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

MIAMI -- Hunched over at the Krome federal detention center, Rochenel Charles' sunken eyes and wilted frame bear no sign that he is a winner.

Yet he is, twice over.

Twice in 14 months an immigration judge approved Charles' request for political asylum. One of dozens of Haitian refugees to leap into Biscayne Bay in a nationally televised October 2002 landing, Charles was among the first to win his case. But the government appealed that February decision and may appeal last month's ruling as well.

"How many times does a Haitian have to win asylum to be freed?" said Candace Jean, Charles' pro-bono attorney from Catholic Charities Legal Services. "I don't know anybody in history who's been granted twice and is still in prison, and I've been doing this 20 years.''

Homeland Security spokeswoman Ana Santiago declined to comment on the case except to say that the department has 30 days to decide whether to appeal and that Charles will remain detained until a case review is completed.

During an interview through an interpreter at Krome on Christmas Eve, Charles, 55, pulled open his beige jacket. Blue detainee scrubs hung off his narrow frame. He reached to his side, his back and his throat to show where incessant pain dogs him, then flipped over his palms to show how pale they've become.

"I spent two Christmases in jail now. It's a sacred holiday, you celebrate the 25th every year because God loves you. But unfortunately, for two years now this is the kind of uniform I'm wearing,'' he said, plucking at his scrubs.

"Only God knows. God knows,'' he said, and laid his head down on folded arms.

Because of strict policies directed at deterring Haitian migration by sea, Charles remains detained during the appeals process. Before late 2001, when another Haitian boat carrying almost 200 refugees arrived in South Florida, Haitians were generally released to the custody of a sponsor pending their asylum case.

Since he was incarcerated 14 months ago, Charles suffered a fall while unloading a truck, spent weeks in a wheelchair, had that chair taken away when he was nearly deported, won a last-minute reprieve, and then won a second asylum hearing. At the Dec. 12 hearing, Charles was coughing hard enough that the judge ordered him sent to the hospital.

But he says officers instead locked him in a small room at the Krome clinic for several hours, never attended to him and then sent him back to his dormitory.

He has battled chronic pain and digestive problems for months and has had no contact with his nine children in Haiti.

Last month the State Department issued a statement deploring the Haitian government's violent suppression of peaceful political demonstrations. Immigrant advocates worry that political upheaval could send an influx of Haitian refugees into the United States, where advocates say expedited asylum proceedings make it harder for boat refugees to retain legal counsel.

There are also concerns that Haitians interdicted at sea will not be interviewed to determine if they have a credible fear of persecution. Homeland Security officials say an officer is always present on board to make that determination.

In recent weeks, two boats with more than 400 refugees have been returned to Haiti. The Coast Guard has repatriated 1,490 this year, up from 1,287 in 2002.

"Since I was little, I always heard talk about Miami, if you reach this land you'll live freely the rest of your life,'' Charles said. "I thought if I reach this country, I'm not going to die anymore.''

Now U.S. policy relies on detainees like Charles to spread the word that there is no such guarantee of freedom. Homeland Security officials say the detention policy discourages Haitians from risking their lives at sea and eases the diversion of key national security resources.

"The message is there that it's not an automatic free ticket into the United States, that they would be required to establish that they were persecuted in the past or had a well-founded fear of persecution, not just that they were fleeing an uncomfortable situation," said Bill Strassberger, a Homeland Security spokesman.

Miami Immigration Judge Sandra Coleman twice ruled that Charles does have a well-founded fear of persecution. She found credible his testimony that he lived in hiding for six years after supporters of Haiti's ruling party, Fanmi Lavalas, killed two of his siblings.

At Krome, Charles chopped at his face and neck with the side of his hand and described how Lavalas supporters hacked his brother with a machete. He bent his head over to finger the small bump he says remains from when he fled and attackers threw a rock at him. After protesting their brother's murder, his sister was jailed and received a beating so severe that she, too, died.

Charles explained that he no longer feels hunger and had not eaten for three days.

"I don't have any strength left,'' he said. "The other day I came to the point where I said, `If you guys are not going to release me, you can just tie me up and send me back to Haiti because I don't think I can take it anymore.' ''

Still, he said, he wakes up every morning to pray and thank God for the people forging his legal battle.

"God has a plan. There is destiny,'' he said. "If he was able to rescue me from that deep sea and bring me here, who knows, one day he may be able to rescue me from here."